Exams are finished. Holidays await – praise the Lord. In this final weekend before Christmas, the Mainz boys tackle undefeated Bayern Munich. Plus, a K-League Challenge podcast with me and Roy, with our thoughts on the K-League Challenge season and Seoul E-Land’s prospects for next season, with musings on the Korean football structure somewhere in there as well.

A lot of action on Friday – well, for Friday standards. Chungy will start at Millwall and continues to play in excellent form whilst the Mainz boys tackle Bayern Munich. Both should start – Koo and Joo-Ho scoring to defeat Bayern Munich. You heard it here first. 😉

In Germany, it’s the last game before the winter break. Hong Jeong-Ho might start depending on the fitness of the other CB’s. Son Heung-Min should start in their game against Einthract Frankfurt. He was (according to multiple sources) very sharp last game and let’s hope that form continues through the new year. Ji Dong-Won is out.

Kim Bo-Kyung didn’t make it past halftime last game. What does that mean? Read what you want into it, but he probably won’t be in the starting XI. Free Kimbo!

Yun Suk-Young was a little sloppy last game and yet he’s still getting consistent minutes from Redknapp, which is quite an achievement itself. He needs to find his form and fast. Hopefully he does well in this week’s game against West Bromwich Albion.

Oh, and he delivered some gifts at the Jack Tizard School. He’s rocking the QPR toque as well.

A post shared by officialqpr (@officialqpr) on Dec 18, 2014 at 11:57am PST

Ki Sung-Yueng and Kim Jin-Su should also both start.

KPA in the Middle East Listings

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Park Chu-Young and Al-Shabab tackle the top team in the SPL, Al-Nassr, early tomorrow morning for us out on the East Coast.

K-League Challenge Podcast
As promised, a K-League Challenge podcast featuring me and Roy Ghim, where we recap the season, talk Seoul E-Land and their hopes and prospects for next season, muse about Korea v North American football on the promotion/relegation front, and look ahead to another year of 2nd tier football in Korea. My audio goes haywire near the end especially – thanks to Roy for doing what he could do with the editing. And yes, those are Daejeon chants. I’m biased in the choice of background music.

Anyhow, enjoy, a nice 20-minute podcast over a morning coffee, a drive to work/school or a way to relax in the evening – take your pick.

I’m a bit worn out from this week of study and exams and study and exams and study and you get the picture, so this listings was a bit short, but I think I cover everything that needs to be covered. The holidays are among us – so crank up the heating, kick up your feet and turn on the footy this weekend, and maybe something magical will happen.

That was rather cheesy. I need sleep. Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Holiday Season and good night from the TSC.

Not really. All 3 promoted teams (this season and last) were already in Classic, but were relegated earlier. So, the system has really just removed regions from the first tier (Gangwon, Daegu, and now Gyeongnam).

in theory though it does. so if there was no relegation/promotion it would just set it in stone, no? and you can’t go back in time, so you can’t undo teams that were created… so if the assumption is that it was ok for more teams to exist/be created, i don’t see how all the regions would have a chance to be in it. it would then be more like a caste system as opposed to the illusion of upward mobility, i suppose.

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding your point, but this is what I was saying. When relegation was introduced there were 16 teams in the K League: Busan, Daejeon, Daegu, Incheon, Gangwon, Gwangju, Gyeongnam, Jeju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Pohang, Sangju, Seongnam, Seoul, Suwon, and Ulsan. All major cities and provinces were represented. Since the introduction of relegation some major cities (Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon) and some provinces (Gangwon-do and Chungcheon-do) have been left out of the top-flight.

There were new teams created, but in all honesty are those teams particularly relevant? Did the league need another team in Suwon or teams in Bucheon or Chungju? Bucheon and Chungju averaged less than 1,000 people a game. Suwon just over. It seems to me the league would be healthier overall if those teams were separate from the league structure until those cities can better support a pro team. In short, the introduction of relegation forced the creation of teams that weren’t needed and thus diluted the overall quality.

I think relegation/promotion is a good idea, but a league needs to be very healthy (financially and in terms of fan/community/owner support) before it can be implemented. In hindsight it feels like the league rushed the decision without completely thinking through the consequences (shocking).

I’ve probly asked this before, but any idea how Ryu SW would fit on the NT? Scored another goal today and seems like he could develop pretty nicely, but he doesnt seem like a one-top kind of guy. Maybe as the CAM behind a real striker (if we had one that is)

K League Classic

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

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Team

P

1

Jeonbuk Motors

34

2

Suwon Bluewings

25

3

Jeju United

24

4

Gyeongnam

22

5

Sangju Sangmu

22

6

Gangwon

20

7

Ulsan

20

8

Pohang Steelers

19

9

Seoul

15

10

Jeonnam Dragons

12

11

Incheon United

8

12

Daegu

7

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

May 20, 2018

Seoul

0 - 4

Jeonbuk Motors

Pohang Steelers

1 - 1

Suwon Bluewings

Sangju Sangmu

0 - 0

Jeju United

Incheon United

1 - 1

Ulsan

May 19, 2018

Jeonnam Dragons

1 - 1

Daegu

Gyeongnam

0 - 1

Gangwon

English Premier League

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Manchester City

100

2

Manchester United

81

3

Tottenham Hotspur

77

4

Liverpool

75

5

Chelsea

70

6

Arsenal

63

7

Burnley

54

8

Everton

49

9

Leicester City

47

10

Newcastle United

44

11

Crystal Palace

44

12

AFC Bournemouth

44

13

West Ham United

42

14

Watford

41

15

Brighton & Hov…

40

16

Huddersfield Town

37

17

Southampton

36

18

Swansea City

33

19

Stoke City

33

20

West Bromwich Albion

31

Hwang Heechan

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Red Bull Salzburg

83

Bundesliga

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Augsburg 1907

0

2

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

0

3

Bayern München

0

4

Borussia Dortmund

0

5

Borussia Mönchengladbach

0

6

Eintracht Frankfurt

0

7

Fortuna Düsseldorf

0

8

SC Freiburg

0

9

Hannover 96

0

10

Hertha BSC

0

11

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

0

12

1. FSV Mainz 05

0

13

Nürnberg

0

14

RB Leipzig

0

15

Schalke 04

0

16

Stuttgart

0

17

Werder Bremen

0

Kwon Changhoon

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

11

Dijon

48

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The Tavern of the Taeguk Warriors is an online community of Korean football/soccer supporters. We bring you news, analysis and opinion in English about Korean players abroad, youth players and the K League.